Elon Musk said he would use SpaceX Starlink to bring internet to the small island nation of Tonga, but then back pedaled on his offer shortly after making the statement.
Tonga was devastated on January 15 when a volcano erupted with a force equivalent to that of 500 atomic bombs, knocking out the region's internet for a least the next month.
Musk tweeted on Friday: 'People from Tonga let us know if it is important for SpaceX to send over Starlink terminals?'
Dr Shane Reti, MP based in Whangarei, sent a letter to Musk shortly after hearing of the proposal asking if his space-based internet could help the people of Tonga.
All was going according to plan until a few hours later when Musk broke the news: 'This is a hard thing for us to do right now.'
Musk said SpaceX does not have enough internet satellites to assist the people of Tonga - the company has 2,000 devices in Earth's orbit.
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Elon Musk said he would use SpaceX Starlink to bring internet to the small island nation of Tonga, but then back pedaled on his offer shortly after making the statement
The volcano created a 'massive explosion' that happens once in every thousand year.
It triggered a 7.4 magnitude earthquake, sending tsunami waves crashing into the island, leaving it covered in ash and cut off from outside help.
The explosion, which killed at least three people and sent tsunami waves across the Pacific, knocked out communications around the nation of about 105,000 people.
In the US, waves of more than four feet were recorded on the California coast on Saturday, and tsunami-effect waves were recorded along the coast in Oregon, Washington, British Columbia in Canada and Alaska.
Dr Shane Reti, MP based in Whangarei, sent a letter to Musk shortly after hearing of the proposal asking if his space-based internet could help the people of Tonga
All was going according to plan until a few hours later when Musk broke the news: 'This is a hard thing for us to do right now.' Musk said SpaceX does not have enough internet satellites to assist the people of Tonga - the company has 2,000 devices in Earth's orbit
Musk jumped at the opportunity to lend a hand by offering up his Starlink satellite internet, which would require SpaceX to move the satellites over Tonga.
And this is where the problem arose.
Shortly after offering to beam internet down, the billionaire tweeted: 'We don't have enough satellites with laser links and there are already geo sats that serve the Tonga region.'
Geo satellites include devices for weather forecasting, satellite radio and
